The large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank has been going on for more than two weeks. Military forces have been operating in the refugee camp and in the city of Jenin for the past 16 days, during which 25 Palestinians have been killed and homes and civilian infrastructure have been severely damaged. According to the mayor of Jenin, 35% of the city’s neighborhoods do not have access to running water as a result of the destruction caused by military forces. Military activity in Tulkarm has been going on for 10 days, during which more than 9,000 residents – about 75% of the refugee camp’s population – have been expelled from their homes.
In addition to the ongoing operations in Jenin and Tulkarm, this week IDF UAVs attacked Tubas. Soldiers also raided the cities of al-Khader and al-Bireh. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, since the ceasefire agreement in Gaza went into effect, the occupation forces have arrested more than 380 Palestinians throughout the West Bank.
The rationale for the planned escalation in the West Bank was explained by Finance Minister and Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) two weeks ago, saying that the operation is “part of the war goals that were added in the Cabinet to the demand of Religious Zionism.” According to Smotrich, “After Gaza and Lebanon, we began today, with God’s help, to change the security perception in Judea and Samaria as well, and in the campaign to eradicate terrorism in the region.” The far-right minister added that the operation will be “an intense, ongoing operation against the terrorist elements and its perpetrators, in defense of the settlements and the settlers, and for the security of the entire State of Israel, of which the settlements are its security zone.”
In other words, Smotrich and his friends on the extreme right are interested in the “Gazanization” of the West Bank. They want to recreate the scenes of destruction, mass displacement and killing from the Gaza Strip in the cities and refugee camps of the West Bank. For Netanyahu, stopping the war in Gaza has created a political problem – and now he must “compensate” his far-right partners, who are threatening to abandon the coalition after the ceasefire agreement and the release of the hostages thwarted their vision of ethnic cleansing and the re-establishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu is willing to do anything to preserve his government and avoid elections, in which the public is expected to send him home. Therefore, it allows Smotrich and the settlers to drag Israel into an eternal war – if not in Gaza and Lebanon, then in Yemen and the West Bank. The price is being paid by the Palestinians, but also by the Israelis: In the past week, three soldiers were killed in Jenin and the Jordan Valley. In the meantime, the workers, pensioners and the unemployed in Israel continue to pay the economic price of the endless war, and the Netanyahu government continues to promote the laws of the regime coup to eliminate the democratic space in the shadow of the “security situation.”
The answer to Smotrich and Netanyahu’s belligerence should be expressed in the streets: in determined demonstrations for the completion of the deal and for a complete end to the war in Gaza and other arenas. Immediately afterwards, a permanent political solution must be sought – only an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel will ensure that both peoples live in peace and security.